But unlike the 2006 incident in which President George W. Bush surprised German Chancellor Angela Merkel with a drive-by shoulder and neck rub at a G-8 meeting in Russia, the irritation this time is much more serious.

Documents released by whistleblower/traitor and onetime National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden indicate that this country routinely listens in on the private phone conversations of foreign leaders. That eavesdropping allegedly includes some of our closest allies, including Merkel, the de facto leader of the European Union.

Of course this nation, every nation, spies. It's the oldest game in international relations. And only the na´ve can believe that spying doesn't include allies spying on allies.

But Merkel made public her angry phone call to President Barack Obama to complain about U.S. spies listening in on her private cellphone conversations. To be sure, she might have been discussing something she and Vladimir Putin were cooking up or checking on the way home to see if she needed to pick up a gallon of milk.

It doesn't matter. Whatever it was, it was none of this country's business, Merkel surely told Obama.

Obama, of course, takes the position of plausible deniability, saying he never asks where his spooks get their information. That's a position that apparently has angered some NSA officials who feel they're being thrown under the bus. The president knew, or should have known, they say. All presidents know.

It's not just Merkel complaining. The leaders of France, Italy, Mexico and Sweden are all howling about NSA surveillance operations, and not just about having their private electronic communications tapped. The U.S. is said to be listening in on hundreds of thousands of daily conversations of ordinary citizens across the globe.

George Orwell would be proud. Americans, maybe not so much.

The rationale for all this, other than we're the most economically and militarily powerful nation and can do it, is that we must do it. The 9-11 attacks show that asymmetrical means must be employed to fight asymmetrical enemies. We must scoop up the whole haystack to find an occasional needle.

If that seems overly intrusive think about your last trip through airport security.

Obama claims to have ordered the NSA to stop listening in on our friends, at least today's friends. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is an ally, of sorts. Will he be after American soldiers are out of his country next year? Don't bet on it and don't bet that we haven't been and won't continue to eavesdrop on his conversations every chance we get.

"With respect to NSA collection of intelligence on leaders of U.S. allies - including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany - let me state unequivocally: I am totally opposed," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.

She had no idea, she said. Really? There will be hearings, she said. Accomplishing what?

If she had no idea, if the president had no idea, then what it really means is that we have an intelligence community on auto-pilot. That may be the creepiest and most dangerous thing about these revelations.